


an infinite capacity for surprise

by cuubism



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Implied Sexual Content, Lingerie, Love Confessions, M/M, No Smut, Sex Work, despite what the tags might imply this is actually very tame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:01:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26316112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuubism/pseuds/cuubism
Summary: Magnus sells lingerie pics on the internet. Alec’s extremely overwhelmed by how pretty his best friend/long-time crush looks in lace.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 26
Kudos: 208





	an infinite capacity for surprise

“Hey, Magnus, sorry, I’m a little early, but I brought you coffee—”

Magnus froze as Alec came striding into the living room, a half hour before Magnus had been expecting to meet him. A half hour before Magnus had been expecting to have to be _dressed_ to meet him.

He was in the middle of a photoshoot, dressed in nothing but some rather elaborate lingerie, and thankfully he was between shots so he at least wasn’t in a totally compromising position, but _still—_

Alec skidded to a stop, eyes wide, fingers clenched tight around the two coffee cups in his hands. “Oh my God,” he croaked.

And it wasn’t like Alec didn’t already know what Magnus did for a living but this was a rather abrupt way to come face-to-face with it.

He was surprised, honestly, that this hadn’t happened before, considering how easily Alec came and went in his loft. But now that it had, he didn’t know what to do. Should he cover up? Flee? Pretend like he _wasn’t_ ninety-percent naked?

Alec stared at him, and Magnus stared back, unable to move under the weight of his gaze. He felt almost more exposed by Alec’s eyes than he ever did under the camera lens. And—Magnus wasn’t self-conscious about his body. He was _never_ self-conscious about his body. So why was he— why was all this _heat_ rising to his face?

Alec was _still_ staring at him. “Holy shit,” he breathed, “you’re so beautiful.”

Magnus looked at him in shock. Alec flushed like he hadn’t meant to let that slip. His jaw clicked shut and his eyes snapped back up to Magnus’s face.

“I mean— shit, sorry, you probably— you probably want this—” he placed the cups down and grabbed the robe Magnus had thrown across his armchair earlier and held it out to him, looking away.

When Magnus made no move to take it, still frozen in disbelief as to what was happening to him right now, Alec stepped closer and wrapped it around his shoulders. His thumb brushed Magnus’s jaw as he did, and—oh. _Oh._

_That_ was why he felt so affected. Not because of his own body, but because it was _Alec_. His dear friend who he’d been so unsubtly pining over for God knew how long. Want and affection and tenderness sparked through Magnus’s body at his touch, and Magnus wanted to lean into it, but Alec was already moving away. 

“I can— I can _go_ —”

“No, don’t!” Magnus lunged forward to grab him by the wrist before he could leave. Alec froze, then softened, and the affection in his gaze warmed Magnus from the inside out. “Stay.”

His heart was hammering, mind racing— _Alec found him attractive? Alec wanted to look at him?_ —and he’d definitely left his robe wide open, rendering it effectively useless as a cover-up, and he had no idea what would come of any of this, but he knew he wanted to find out.

“I’m sorry for walking in on you,” Alec said softly. “I didn’t mean it. I should have knocked.”

“It’s alright, darling.” Magnus said. “I’m hardly concerned with modesty.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that.” Alec grinned, and there was something different about it, a glowing softness to his normally bright and unabashed smile—or maybe Magnus was just glowing under his attention.

Alec reached out and wrapped Magnus’s robe around him, tying it, and Magnus’s stomach jumped at the touch of his fingers, even if he would’ve maybe preferred Alec _untying_ the robe.

“You’re really, um—” Alec started, hands still lightly touching Magnus’s waist “—gorgeous. I mean, I always imagined, but—” he bit his lip, gaze roving over Magnus’s body, before he suddenly seemed to catch himself again and stepped back, eyes wide. “Sorry, I shouldn’t— I know I’m not— we’re not—”

God, Magnus had really flustered him. If he’d known he could get Alec to reveal his true feelings so easily, he’d have paraded around the loft in just his underwear ages ago.

He took a careful step closer to him. “We’re not… what?”

Alec’s gaze was pleading, but also—hopeful. “Don’t tease,” he warned. “Magnus, if you don’t—”

Magnus took another step closer, heart fluttering. “And what if I do?”

“Then—” Alec stared at him for one long moment, eyes wide. Then he was striding back over, taking Magnus by the lapels of his robe and pulling him into a kiss.

It was soft, undemanding, but Magnus caved to it anyway, tilting his head back to let Alec in deeper, thrilling at the ease of it, how Alec’s mouth fit to his, how everything had flipped but the floor remained steady under him.

Alec pulled away after a moment, breathing hard. “I wish I’d known— that you wanted—” he shook his head in disbelief. “I would’ve said something.”

Magnus blinked. “Does that mean…?”

“That I’ve been in love with you for years?” Alec said, and Magnus’s mouth popped open. “Yeah.”

Magnus pressed a hand to Alec’s chest, feeling the solid muscle, the warmth of him. “You never said.”

“I didn’t think you felt it, too.”

Magnus felt personally offended by that. “I kept _flirting_ with you!”

“You were _flirting with me?_ ”

Magnus gaped at him. “How can someone so brilliant and lovely be so oblivious?”

Alec’s eyes lit up. “You think I’m lovely?”

Magnus reached up to cradle his face and pull him back down into another kiss. Alec hummed against his mouth, soft and warm and, indeed, lovely.

“You are incredibly lovely, my Alexander. Has no one ever told you that?”

Alec shrugged. “I don’t know, but I like hearing it from you.”

His hands slipped from Magnus’s lapels to run down his chest, the silk of his robe, the edges of the lingerie he could feel through it, just lightly touching. Magnus leaned into him. 

“A bit better than the pictures, hmm?” he teased.

“I wouldn’t know,” said Alec.

Magnus blinked at him, surprised. “You never looked?” Alec had known about Magnus’s work for years, had—if what he was saying was true, and Alec rarely said anything untrue—been harboring feelings for him for almost as long, and yet he’d never—

Alec shook his head. “It felt like an invasion of privacy.”

“It’s all public on the internet, darling.”

“I know, but it’s different if it’s someone you _actually know_ looking. Especially if you don’t know they’re looking.”

Magnus supposed that had truth to it. He appreciated Alec’s respect for the boundaries of their relationship, especially considering how easy it would have been to breach them. But he couldn’t help the little flutter of—was that disappointment?—that Alec hadn’t been tempted enough to look.

“Didn’t even want to peek? Just a little?” he teased.

Alec’s gaze darkened. “Oh, I _wanted_ to.” His hand slid up Magnus’s chest to cup his throat, tilting his chin up. “But I’d much rather look at the real thing.”

The disappointment vanished, replaced by a flare of want that had Magnus suddenly remembering he was wearing only lingerie, covered though it was by his robe.

“And how is it?” Magnus asked, feeling the movement of Alec’s thumb on his throat as he spoke. “The real thing?”

Alec gave him a _look_. A look that said, _you know exactly what you do to me._

Oh, he _liked_ this side of Alec.

“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Alec said. He didn’t even look away from Magnus’s face.

“Flatterer,” Magnus murmured.

“You deserve it,” said Alec. “Magnus, I—” he dropped his hand, seeming a little overwhelmed, which Magnus supposed was reasonable. The day had truly taken a strange and delightful turn. “I care about you _so_ much. I can’t believe—”

“Me too, darling. I’ve… felt very strongly about you for a long time,” Magnus admitted, playing with his ear, “but I didn’t think you would want this.”

Alec reached up to take his hand, letting Magnus play with his fingers instead. “How could I not want this? Or _you_?”

“Because of my work.”

Alec’s gaze flickered over to meet his, startled. “Have I— made you think that I was uncomfortable with it? I thought—”

Magnus laid a finger on his lips. “No, of course not. But it’s different, having your _friend_ be a sex worker, versus your _partner_.”

Alec shook his head. “It’s not. It’s not different. I mean, how I feel about _you_ is different than if you were just a friend, obviously. But, I don’t know, Magnus, it’s just your work, it doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t make me want you more or less. I just— I just want you. Whatever that means for us.”

Magnus smiled at him. He felt warm and full of light. He tapped at Alec’s bottom lip. “It doesn’t make you jealous, hm?”

It was only teasing… _mostly._ But somewhere deep down there was the very real fear that, no matter how confident Alec was _now_ that he could handle this, there would come a point when it would be too much for him. It had happened to Magnus before.

Alec shrugged. “Nah. Sure, other people get to look. But _I—_ ” he trailed a finger down Magnus’s chest, and Magnus shivered “—get to touch.”

Magnus was about to say something to encourage just that when Alec pulled away, looking suddenly uncertain. “I mean, if that’s okay—and I don’t want you to think that I just want sex and that I don’t, like, want to take you out on a date and—”

Magnus kissed him to shut him up, loving the little surprised noise Alec made into his mouth. When he pulled away, he beamed up at him.

“I would love all of that,” Magnus said.

Alec grinned. “Good. Great.”

“And yes…” Magnus continued, “you’re allowed to touch.”

He took Alec’s hand and placed it back on his chest, nudging him to trail his fingers down the silk of Magnus’s robe until they found the tie again.

Magnus leaned in to speak directly into Alec’s ear, which had the added benefit of pressing their bodies together along several points. “How would you like to look again… properly this time?”

Alec’s fingers played with the robe’s tie. “If you’d like that, I’d like that,” he said.

Magnus remembered how he’d felt when Alec had looked at him after running into the loft too early. Adored. Appreciated. Aroused.

“Yes,” he said, “I would like that.”

Alec tugged on the tie, letting the robe fall open again, and he just—looked.

Magnus was used to being looked at. Normally, it didn’t really affect him, because, well, it was work. Magnus enjoyed his work, but it was still _work._

This, with Alec—it was different.

Alec swallowed hard, still looking at him, reached out slowly to lay a hand on Magnus’s hip. Magnus sucked in a breath. After pining over Alec for so long, wanting him for so long, he was never going to get used to how easily Alec was affected just by looking at him. How easily he himself was affected by the heady intensity of Alec’s gaze. 

And he suddenly remembered—Alec hadn’t looked at any of his pictures. He hadn’t seen _anything,_ other than what he’d stumbled upon today. That left Magnus with an almost infinite capacity to surprise him.

He found he was rather looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://cuubism.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
